“So it’s you?”
“You know me?”
Sajin let out a scornful laugh.
“You’re fairly well-known among the Genin.
An unlucky guy with mediocre strength who shamelessly dreams of pursuing the proud Temari.
Your level of shamelessness is truly hard to match.”
“Whether it’s fame or infamy, at least I’m famous.
A nobody like you should avoid having a name that’s too similar to mine…”
“I’d rather not either.
People used to mistake that idiot ‘Red Sandstorm’ for me.
Explaining it every time was a real pain…”
“So you’ve never thought about changing your name?”
“Compared to that, beating up the guy who’s caused me so much trouble sounds much more satisfying.”
“You’ve made the wrong choice.”
The numbness in Daimaru’s arm from that previous punch had already faded.
“Being stubborn is going to cost you.”
He bent his knees slightly before bursting forward, driving a straight punch with his right fist.
Smack!
Sajin caught the punch with his left hand, and the two immediately entered a contest of strength.
Daimaru’s left hand turned into a knife-hand strike aimed at Sajin’s chest and abdomen, only for Sajin’s right hand to catch his wrist at the last moment.
“I told you, don’t compare me to those two idiots…”
“Idiots?
If you hang around with them, how much better can you really be?”
His left hand shifted from the knife-hand into a one-handed seal as chakra flowed into the sand beneath their feet.
“Earth Release: Sand Dance!”
The ground beneath them suddenly softened, becoming like a giant maw that swallowed both of them until they were buried up to their waists.
“This is…”
Sajin stared at Daimaru in surprise.
“You buried yourself too?
What are you thinking?”
“My time is precious.
I don’t want to waste it on you.”
He still needed to go spend time with Temari afterward.
Opportunities to meet her openly didn’t come often, so every minute counted.
“So we’re both trapped in the sand.
You’re really that confident you can beat me in close combat?”
With their movements restricted, many techniques were unusable, but Sajin was convinced he wouldn’t lose a straight-up fistfight.
“A battle where every punch lands—that’s a man’s romance!”
“Who wants to trade punches with you?”
Daimaru scoffed as he suddenly grabbed both of Sajin’s arms, completely cutting off any chance of escape.
“You think you’re worthy of talking about a man’s romance?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the broad muscles on Daimaru’s back rippled.
From beneath his loose, flashy jacket emerged a small arm.
Then came a head.
A torso.
“You’re…
a puppeteer?”
“Yeah.
Didn’t you know?”
“I’ve never heard that you had a puppet!”
“No kidding.
I’ve never used one before.
How could you have heard about it?”
“You…
actually revealed a hidden trump card just to defeat me?”
“Kid, don’t flatter yourself.”
Daimaru grinned.
“Even without using puppeteer techniques, you’d still lose.
I just wanted to end this quickly, so I figured I’d see if you’d fall for it.”
“And you actually treated me like the idiot.”
The puppet, barely as tall as an arm, sat atop Daimaru’s shoulder.
Calmly, it drew the folding fan from its back and slowly spread it open before pointing the sharpened tip of the fan’s rib at Sajin’s throat.
“Using such underhanded tricks…”
Sajin still refused to accept defeat.
“You think this is enough to beat me?
I’ll show you—”
Bang!
A vicious headbutt from Daimaru smashed straight into Sajin’s forehead, cutting off the rest of his threat.
“Referee, hasn’t the match been decided yet?
The poison on my puppet is extremely lethal, and I didn’t bring any antidote.
Detoxifying him afterward will be a real hassle.
If he insists on refusing to surrender, that puts me in a difficult spot.”
The referee, whose face remained completely hidden, spoke in a gloomy tone.
“A shinobi must learn to recognize reality when it matters.”
“There’s nothing wrong with talking big—as long as you’re prepared to bear the consequences.”
“As for whether you survive…”
His sinister voice sent chills down everyone’s spine.
“This is only an internal examination.
If someone dies even here…”
“…then they’re simply unlucky.”
“I see…”
Thrust.
The blade pierced through Sajin’s armor and flesh, stabbing into his upper arm.
Within only a few breaths, his face first flushed bright red before turning deathly pale.
His breathing became increasingly labored.
Moments later, he collapsed unconscious.
“The winner—Daimaru!”
After announcing the result, the referee quickly shoved an antidote pill into Sajin’s mouth before pulling both of them out of the quicksand trap.
“You’re quite impressive.”
“Thank you for the compliment!
May I ask your name?”
“…you’ll naturally know.”
The referee hoisted the unconscious Sajin onto his shoulder.
“Your poison is truly outrageous.
Even the antidote isn’t doing much.”
“I need to get this kid emergency treatment.
As for the rest, go report to Jonin Baki yourself.”
“Sorry for the trouble.”
As soon as Daimaru finished speaking, the referee had already vanished.
“A Jonin’s Body Flicker Technique…
so fast I couldn’t even react.”
Shaking his head, Daimaru dusted himself off.
Then, with the lightly injured Yome supporting the newly awakened—and still exhausted—Chi, the three headed toward the central arena where Jonin Baki was waiting.
“We…
already won?”
Having only seen the end of the battle, Chi was still confused.
Yome, on the other hand, had watched Daimaru effortlessly defeat both Mijin and Sajin in quick succession, and her emotions were far too complicated to put into words.
“With me around, a test of this level was never going to be a problem.”
The two girls were happy about the victory.
Yet at the same time, a growing sense of crisis surfaced in their hearts.
Before, they hadn’t realized just how enormous the gap between them was, so they had still held onto a bit of hope.
Now they knew.
If they couldn’t keep up with their teammate, being abandoned again would only be a matter of time.
…
“So Otofū’s team won as well?”
After confirming Daimaru, Chi, and Yome’s qualification, Baki nodded approvingly.
“Even another reserve squad managed to win.
That’s quite an unexpected surprise.”
“But have the Intelligence Division been slacking off?
This year’s strength evaluations have produced far too many surprises.”
Otofū’s team hadn’t won easily.
Chi and Yome were both in poor condition, while Daimaru was practically uninjured.
It was clearly a team built around one core fighter supported by two assistants.
“Go wait over there.
Once the final team’s qualification has been confirmed, I’ll explain the important details of this Chunin Exam.”
Nearly half of the original examinees had already left.
As Daimaru walked over, a familiar figure approached him.
“Daimaru, you won too?
I knew you could do it…”
“Jiri, what happened to you?
You look awful.”
“It’s…
a long story.”
His former teammate smiled bitterly, covered in blood and dust.
“We ran into a really tough squad.”
“We almost lost.”
(End of Chapter)
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